Old Garret Ground Hog. NEED HELP

[stevieduk]

Hi , Im new on here and I need some help with a old detector I have been given, Its the Garrett Grounhog VLF/TR Masterhunter. ALL metal design with knobs and switches on the control box. I think it dates from the mid seventies. part of the shaft is missing but I can replace that myself, but what I really need is the instruction manual, or a copy of it if I can download one from anywhere. can anyone help please

 

[quarterhorse]

http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby-manuals/ADS-Deepseeker-Groundhog.pdf

http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_manuals.aspx

 

[stevieduk]

great thanks. do you know if they are a good machine ?

 

[leslie]

Scroll down and click onto the Metal Detecting Forum ,at the top of the page are lots of

manuals for the popular brands of detectors.

Good Luck with your Groundhog.

Les.

 

[dufus]

i had one back in that era, and found a lot of stuff with it. it was the stud duck of it's day. i still have the 1975 model ''coinshooter'', which gave up on me last week. i'm trying to decide whether to send it in to garrett for [ possible]] repair, but they told me on the phone that no parts are available for it. so,, i don't know how much sense it makes to pay them to tell me,, '' it's needs a new thing-a ma-jig, and a so-and-so, but we do not have them''. --''that will be $40 for our labor, plus 2-way shipping''

 

[stevieduk]

always the case, give us your money and whoops, sorry , cant do nothing for you

 

[stevieduk]

hey dufus, if you decide not to fix yours , I need the upper section of the shaft, the metre cover, (mines cracked ) and the arm support piece to make this good again. let me know

 

[Occupant]

I still have and use a Groundhog and love the smooth audio of the older analog machines. Once you get the hang of it, this old detector will make you smile. The 15 kHz frequency is especially sensitive to small, low conductors. Think 'small gold chains', that many newer VLF machines will miss. Does your Groundhog have a pushbutton or toggle switch on the end of the handle? After you read the manual, take a look at Sven's website www.treasurelinx.com and download the Garrett catalog for your detector. The 1978 catalog covers the Pushbutton Groundhog on pages 6 thru 10 with some great info on using it. The 1981 catalog includes the toggle switch version, also known as the ADS version. Same basic circuitry, just a different way to switch between VLF (all metal) and TR (discriminate). If you like, send me your email and I'll send you some notes on the Groundhog that I have collected over the years, along with a schematic of the basic circuit. By the way, all of the electronic components are still available, so repairs shouldn't be a problem, unless it's something like the meter, the vernier control for ground balance or other hardware that dies. Also, the audio section is powered by the batteries marked on the slide out tray as #2. It will work just fine with only one battery in either #2 position and if you use headphones, battery life won't suffer.
One suggestion, when you begin learning to use the Groundhog, turn the Power control to about the 3 o'clock position. As that control is turned clockwise, power (actually the sensitivity of the receive circuit) is reduced. Once you learn what the good targets sound like, then begin to turn it back counter clockwise to increase sensitivity. Otherwise, it will drive you crazy hearing every tiny bit of metal in the ground. Charles Garrett says to give it 100 hours to really learn what the machine will do. I think you should have a good command of the machine by the time you have used up the first set of batteries.
We have mild ground here in Virginia's coastal plain with little mineralization. By setting the ground balance slightly positive (meaning that after ground balancing for no change in tone when pumping the coil, then turning the ground balance clockwise another 1/4 or 1/2 turn so there is a slight increase in tone when the coil is lowered) I can easily hit a clad quarter at 8" and occasionally get a signal from a clad quarter at 10". This is with the stock 8" coil. Not too shabby for a 30+ year old machine.
You'll enjoy the Groundhog!
HH
Roger

 

[slingshot]

Yeah. The Groundhog 7" coil was supposed to have made it easier to tell some difference in iron targets in that they gave a wider signal, whereas a coin was a rather short signal. Also, the toggle made it possible to switch between modes and use "reverse discrimination" which made it possible to discriminate deeper (in those days) than was common with TR detectors. Unfortunately, I didn't use mine to it's full potential.

 

[stevieduk]

Hi Roger, thanks for the information. I have downloaded a instruction manual and will start studying it. I need to find the right diameter tube to make the first section of the tube after the handle , also the meter cover has a chip in one corner, so I have them to fix. Having said that I dont even know if it works yet as I only got it Friday and there are no battery's in it. My Email address is Centralmotorsrort@gmail.com and any info you could send me would be very much appreciated. By the way I should tell you that I am in Nottingham, England, just in case you are thinking that I am your side of the water. Oh and yes, this does have the button on the handle, plus another bit that is missing is the arm support piece on the back of the handle. When I know you have my Email address , and whether this works or not, then maybe if you see any of the bits I need for sale then you might let me know, as there is more likelihood of you seeing bits over your side than I am in England.
Steve

P S, I do a bit of gold panning in Scotland, There is silver ore there to. How good will it be picking up small bits of gold, plus would the coil be waterproof like the modern machines ?

 

[downeaster]

I also have, and still use from time to time, an early Garrett Pushbutton Groundhog. They are great coinshooter and very sensitive to small non ferrous items. The Groundhog lives on today in the Garrett Scorpion, it's hard to argue with success.

 

[stevieduk]

we should start a 70 s n 80 s groundhog group

 

[quarterhorse]

we should start a 70 s n 80 s groundhog group

don't know if you know about this forum or not

http://www.findmall.com/list.php?56

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

I have and much enjoy my 30 or so year old ADS Groundhog with the "Switch" on the handle. I also have the small, medium, and large Groundhog coils for it. Make sure your coil is for a Groundhog and not a Deepseeker. They made both in the ADS version but the coils do not interchange. It was back in 1982 that I started metal detecting, Cut my teeth on a friends upper line manual ground balance Garrett Master Hunter and in the first half hour, found a Wheat back penny and a mans gold class ring in of all places, the mountains, not a building, shed, or anything man made around.

This machine will also find Black Sand pockets if you are interested in prospecting. I live in Gold country but it is mostly very fine Gold. I have never found a nugget with it yet, but I have also never found a nugget with my more sensitive White's GM V/SAT either. I have however, found very small lead bird shot with the White's and .22 bullets and a little smaller lead with the Groundhog. The old Groundhog may not have the Bells and Whistles like the White's digital read GMT to find Black Sand pockets but it can be set to do it and will. Also, get yourself a decent pair of headphones because you will be detecting by sounds, some very faint, and not by pre-set Tones, Bells and Whistles. Be very patient learning this machine, put in the time digging everything while relating sounds to settings and the soils your detecting, and I think you will feel more accomplished in knowing what is going on with a metal detector than you would with a Turn it on and Go machine. These Groundhog machines may be old but they can and will find things as the principles of detecting have changed very little, low and high conductive metals are still metals, hot and cold rocks are still hot and cold rocks, and ground iron and minerals are still iron and minerals. There are some coil advantages in hotter ground the new stuff will have over the old concentric coplaners but the rest really comes down to the operator. If you are looking strictly for Gold nuggets, forget what you know about coin hunting. The two are not even the same kind of detecting though the Groundhog was made to do both. And if you do not have real nuggets to practice with, try a .22 lead bullet or lead sinkers for instance. Lead in about the same proportions as Gold will detect pretty close to the same.

Well, it is late and must get ready for work tomorrow but sure hope you can get your machine up and running, good luck, Robert

 

[Muddyshoes]

Groundhog and its variants was an awesome machine for it's day. It was very sensitive, well balanced (weight wise) and a very lightweight machine compared to other detectors of the day.

There are used groundhogs for sale pretty regularly on "the-auction-place-who-shall-not-be-named". It might be less expensive to just buy a used one there than to try and buy or make parts for what you have. And remember you can trade in used Garrett detectors and searchcoils, dead or alive, to the factory in exchange for a discounted new machine.

I will likely pick up an ADS groundhog, circa 1980 for old times sake one day, although realistically, my getting-older knees would rather have one of the newer displays tell me the likelihood of what I'm digging before I dig nowadays.

- Muddyshoes

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

The day I went to buy my Garrett Freedom II at Powers Candy in Pocatello Idaho, I found a woman's gold diamond ring laying on the parking lot pavement by the drivers side door of my then 1968 GT/CS California Special Mustang. Have no idea why it was there cuz I had never given at the time, any woman any ring and had just begun seeing this one girl who's place was next to that parking lot so either a woman dropped it or one woman mistook my car for someone else and threw it at it.

Besides having two manual adjust Descrimination settings, you can at a finger pull, rocker switch from the 1st Descrimination setting to the 2nd, and there is also Pin Point mode in the other position. Then it has a manual adjust Audio that I realy believe is a Threshold setting, a 3 position toggle switch for Detection Depth that I realy believe is the Gain or Sensitivity (power) for minum, normal, and maximum depth, and then a Ground Balance manual control called Ground Elimination. I'm thinking I bought it new in or around 1987 for about $412. It's sure been a great machine. I will cry the day this machine ever craps out on me. Could not begin to count the hours I've had in swinging this machine. These manual adjustments for Ground or Depth for instance are not precision 10 turn or better adjustments but they are suficiant for coin hunting. Even as rich in iron and minerals as the ground is around here, it does very well detecting coins. Now and then, you can find ground you can pour the power to the coil without it getting or becoming too unstable. I've often wondered what the Freedom line of machines would have doen with an eliptical DD coil.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Here is my old Groundhog. Notice on the mounted large coil, the close up of the Black round sticker with a "15" on it that stands for 15 kHz. The medium size coil has one also but my small coil is unfortunately missing it's decals.

 

[jackintexas]

For the Garrett Groundhog manual go to the "Metal Detecting Forum" JB has all the old manuals.listed....Jack

 

[Fisherfinder]

If that Ground Hog ever needs service just send it to Keith Wills, it will be repaired and sent back to you for a reasonable cost.
.

 

[dufus]

If that Ground Hog ever needs service just send it to Keith Wills, it will be repaired and sent back to you for a reasonable cost.
.

how might i contact keith wills??? i have an older [ 1975 ] ''coin shooter'' that needs a little attention----thanks